Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Jan. 29 ordering the execution of the man convicted in the Jan. 18, 1991, murder of Fort Pierce Police Officer Danny Parrish.
Retired Fort Pierce Police Sgt. Dennis McWilliams said he was relieved when he learned DeSantis signed the warrant.
“It’s been 35 years coming and 35 years too long for me, Mirtha, for the state, for the Sheriff’s Office, for the city of Fort Pierce, for everybody who was around for his family, for everybody who was in this community during that time,” McWilliams said. “It was an awful tragedy and a senseless killing.”
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Billy Leon Kearse, 18 at the time, was pulled over for driving the wrong way on a one-way street. He managed to get Parrish’s service weapon and started firing.
Parrish was the fourth Fort Pierce officer killed in the line of duty.
Kearse was convicted in October 1991 of first-degree murder and robbery with a firearm and was sentenced to death in March 1997, according to DeSantis’ order.
In 2021, Fort Pierce city commissioners approved an initiative allowing a life-size bronze sculpture in Parrish’s likeness to be installed at the main police station. The sculpture is also a generic representation of a Fort Pierce officer.
Parrish’s wife, Mirtha Busbin, said she plans to attend Kearse’s execution.
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Florida man to be executed, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed death warrant